Denver City Council on Tuesday will begin discussions on whether to impose a 5-cent bag fee as a way to push people to use reusable bags.

The issue will be heard in the council’s Health, Safety, Education and Services committee Tuesday afternoon, brought by Councilwoman Debbie Ortega. The plan is to charge customers 5 cents per bag that is provided by the store, with 2 cents being retained by the retailer and 3 cents going to the city.

The city would use the revenue for education and outreach and to distribute reusable bags. The goal is to get a 50 percent reduction in bag consumption in the first year.

Gov. John Hickenlooper and his wife, Helen, have different tastes when it comes to the art scene. He’s a fan of the world-renowned artist Christo; her, not so much.

“There’s a lot of people, including my wife, who think just leave the river the way it is,” said Hickenlooper, speaking to a room of newspaper publishers gathered at the governor’s mansion, about the artist’s multi-million dollar “Over the River” project slated for southern Colorado a little more than three years from now.

In a 30-minute question and answer session Thursday at the annual reception hosted for the Colorado Press Association, Hickenlooper — sipping an amber-style beer — dodged providing direct answers to a series of questions zinged at him.

On Monday, Seattle’s City Council joined other major cities across the country — including San Francisco and Portland, Ore. — that have imposed bans on plastic grocery bags, leaving this reporter to wonder if such a ban could occur in Denver or elsewhere along the Front Range.

Seattle City Council voted to ban plastic bags in the city by July. Colorado's legislature rejected a statewide ban but a few Colorado communities have either banned or are considering limits for plastic bags, which environmentalists call an irksome pollutant.

Already, a handful of Colorado communities have enacted bans on bags or fees for their use, including in Aspen and Telluride.

In October, Boulder’s City Council discussed either a ban or a fee in a study session to update the city’s Zero Waste Master Plan. No decisions were made and the council wanted more time to study the issue, which may come up for vote next year. At the time of the October session, it appeared the majority of council was leaning toward a fee for bag use.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.